Elsevier

Ophthalmology

Volume 101, Issue 11, November 1994, Pages 1851-1855
Ophthalmology

The Prevalence of Primary Open-angle Glaucoma in a Population-based Study in The Netherlands: The Rotterdam Study

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0161-6420(94)31090-6Get rights and content

Purpose: The objective of this study is to assess the prevalence of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) in a defined population in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Methods: The Rotterdam Study is a single-center prospective cohort study of a total population of more than 10,000 people, 55 years of age or older. For the current analysis, the first 3062 consecutive, unselected, noninstitutionalized participants were examined according to standard protocols, including perimetry. The diagnosis of POAG was based on the presence of a glaucomatous visual field defect combined with either a vertical cup: disc ratio of 0.5 or more or a cup:disc ratio asymmetry of 0.2 or more, or an intraocular pressure (IOP) more than 21 mmHg, with open and normal anterior chamber angles.

Results: The overall prevalence of POAG in the current study was 1.10% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.09,1.11). Age-specific prevalence figures increased from 0.2% (95% CI: 0.16,0.24) in the age group of 55 to 59 years to 3.3% (95% CI: 2.57,4.04) in the age group of 85 to 89 years. Men had a more than three times higher risk of having POAG than women (odds ratio, 3.6). In 52.9% of the patients, POAG had not been diagnosed previously. Of these patients, 38.9% had lOPs of 21 mmHg or lower. In 8.8% of the eyes (2.9% of patients), visual acuity was 20/200 or less due to POAG.

Conclusion: The overall prevalence of POAG in the current study was 1.1%. The prevalence of POAG was higher in men than in women. Of the untreated patients, 38.9% had lOPs of 21 mmHg or lower.

References (11)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (497)

  • Update on the diagnosis and treatment of normotensive glaucoma

    2023, Archivos de la Sociedad Espanola de Oftalmologia
  • A multi-feature deep learning system to enhance glaucoma severity diagnosis with high accuracy and fast speed

    2022, Journal of Biomedical Informatics
    Citation Excerpt :

    The patients with IOP greater than 21 mmHg were diagnosed as glaucoma directly [33,34]. However, it has been demonstrated that nearly 40 % of patients with otherwise characteristic glaucoma may not have elevated IOP measurements [35]. And some patients may take low IOP medications before follow-up in clinical, resulting in normal IOP, such as the moderate glaucoma in Fig. 1E. Therefore, DetectionNet was used to realize a more accurate glaucoma detection by combining CFP and VF in the second phase.

View all citing articles on Scopus

Supported by the Nestor stimulation program for geriatric research in The Netherlands (Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education), The Hague; Topcon Europe BV, Capelle a/d Yssel; Haags Oogheelkundig Fonds, The Hague; Merck, Sharp & Dohme Chibret Nederland, Haarlem; Stichting Bevordering van Volkskracht, Rotterdam; Stichting Blindenhulp, The Hague; Rotterdamse Vereniging voor Blindenbelangen, Rotterdam; and The Netherlands Society for the Prevention of Blindness, Amsterdam, The Netherland.

View full text